IT topics?

[sroddy]

I would like to see a section of the board devoted to folk who have to work with the IT infrastructure (or lack of) within CAP.  You know... us web admins, support staff for users, etc.

Personally, I am skinning a cat that may or may not have been skinned before... such as administering a wing/unit web site, wing discussion forum, wiki, email forwarders, mailing lists, domain registration, automatica provisioning of accounts for said resources, etc.

My solutions are Unix centric, but I would love to see discussion of all!

[JC004]

I'd go for that.

[SilverEagle2]

http://www.cap-it.us/forum/index.php

[JC004]

That forum is all but dead.  I couldn't even get on it because the wing Director of Personnel took forever to put my IT position into e-services.  I gave up on it, really.

[Eclipse]

http://www.cap-it.us/forum/index.php

Not exactly a hot bed of activity...

[SilverEagle2]

Could be.

Maybe a good indicator of how much and IT topic would be useful here. IT folks are supposed to use that one and don't. What would be different here?

Perhaps that it would be open to all rather than just IT staff may help...but... 

[Eclipse]

IT folks are supposed to use that one and don't. What would be different here?

Supposed to?

I'm not aware that its anymore "official" than CAPTalk - just someone's homegrown idea for a forum.

[SilverEagle2]

CAPP 227 Page 11 Item 7

[Eclipse]

CAPP 227 Page 11 Item 7

"7. Regularly participate in the National IT Program Discussion Forums."

Yes?  Where does it indicate that the website being discussed is "the" forum? 

Its run by the RMR ITO, nothing wrong with that, but far from "official".  If it is the "official" forum, somebody at NHQ needs to
give it a much bigger push, and move it to a domain with a .gov on the end.

[JC004]

That never really went anywhere.  The rest of the site seems to be defunct now too.  Besides the requirement to be an ITO in e-services, they couldn't even verify it independently, so you had to send a copy of your e-services record to them with the positions listed. 

It took me forever to even get to the point where it was entered into e-services, so I had to wait to get into the forum.  It doesn't matter much because it doesn't look like I would have got much out of it anyway, considering the lack of activity there.  There was a lot of stuff that I would have liked to discuss, tutorials I would have liked to put together, etc., but oh well. 

...
If it is the "official" forum, somebody at NHQ needs to
give it a much bigger push, and move it to a domain with a .gov on the end.

ditto.

[sroddy]

CAPP 227 Page 11 Item 7

Nowhere does item 7 specify a specific forum.  Besides, I can register any .us domain... it's not like it is it-forums.cap.gov or something.

[whatevah]

We haven't created new boards on CAPTalk unless there are already topics to populate it, including a variety of recent topics to prove that it won't be a stagnant board.  Feel free to make your posts in the "Tools of the trade" section until then.

[sroddy]

We haven't created new boards on CAPTalk unless there are already topics to populate it,

Build it and they will come?  *shrug*

[Pylon]

We haven't created new boards on CAPTalk unless there are already topics to populate it,

Build it and they will come?  *shrug*

Pretty much that has been our policy.  When topics hit a threshold that shows people actually talk about that stuff, we've added a new section.  The old CAPBoard had dozens of sections, many of them sparsely populated with just a few discussions. It was kind of a mess.  We try to be a little better organized than that.

[CDCTF]

Civil Air Patrol and IT.....that's an oxymoron, if we used IT resources we might actually get information in a timely fashion.

[Irishrenegade]

could always go with a basic WYSIWYG Editor...as long as the information is updated I would say it should not matter too much what the site looks like.

Agree with everyone though that there is a lack of IT within CAP.

[Eclipse]

Agree with everyone though that there is a lack of IT within CAP.

What sort of "IT" would you like?

[Irishrenegade]

well I have been apart of two squadrons and everything being used computer wise...is out of date and not all that reliable. With a fast paced world of cyber security and information technology I think there is a need for better machines so that work can be done more effectivly. Now don't get me wrong I know we are volunteers and don't need that high tech stuff but i would have to say Windows ME is out of date haha.

This is also coming from a 22 yr old right out of college (may 09) with a Computer Engineering Degree so my life revolves around technology haha so I would say my opinion is biased towards more IT

[Eclipse]

Every unit has been issued a notebook computer and since then most have received updated and additional machines.  My units all have at least two - when I issue them they are performance tweaked, patched, and contain everything they need for unit operations.  Generally within a few months I start hearing about how "slow" the machine is or how it "keeps crashing".  I get it back, and its chock full
of crapware, trojans, and 12 IE toolbars (despite the fact that I set Firefox as the default). 

Checking the browsing and use history shows little CAP need for the machine, and plenty of trips to social media sites, and sadly, sometimes places that are "spicey" (don't ask, always addressed).  I clean the machine or scratch the OS, rinse, repeat.

If there is a technology issue because of outdated equipment at a given unit, it is generally a local attention-span issue or lack
of the initiative to take responsibility for the equipment (you might be surprised how many units look the gift horse in the mouth and
say "I don't want it").

What lacks in most cases are not the tools or the tech, its the interest in the unit members to provide content and keep things updated -
many would rather update their Facebook status and play minesweeper instead of writing an article for the unit website or enter data in SIMs.

[Irishrenegade]

Every unit has been issued a notebook computer and since then most have received updated and additional machines.  My units all have at least two - when I issue them they are performance tweaked, patched, and contain everything they need for unit operations.  Generally within a few months I start hearing about how "slow" the machine is or how it "keeps crashing".  I get it back, and its chock full
of crapware, trojans, and 12 IE toolbars (despite the fact that I set Firefox as the default). 

Checking the browsing and use history shows little CAP need for the machine, and plenty of trips to social media sites, and sadly, sometimes places that are "spicey" (don't ask, always addressed).  I clean the machine or scratch the OS, rinse, repeat.

If there is a technology issue because of outdated equipment at a given unit, it is generally a local attention-span issue or lack
of the initiative to take responsibility for the equipment (you might be surprised how many units look the gift horse in the mouth and
say "I don't want it").

What lacks in most cases are not the tools or the tech, its the interest in the unit members to provide content and keep things updated -
many would rather update their Facebook status and play minesweeper instead of writing an article for the unit website or enter data in SIMs.

Oh that is all too true...I was assigned ITO at my last squadron because of my background and the crap I found on there was incredible...Granted I think your right it was probably that our squadron was more than likely over looked or there was a lack of updating machines and software.

I made sure that no cadet was using FB or any other social networks and I had to update the spyware and antivirus that was 2 years out of date and expired...so yea I hear ya with that part too.